Bible Studies

Doubt vs. Unbelief (Matthew 11:1-15)

Jesus sends his disciples out on their first mission after giving them instructions. But then Jesus goes out on His own mission as well. He didn’t gather disciples to become workers so He could kick back and relax. After all, just two chapters earlier in Matthew 9:37 He said to His disciples, “The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”. There is work to do!

Jesus and the disciples have split up and are out preaching the message of repentance and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. As Jesus was out preaching, He was approached by John the Baptists disciples.

Matthew 11:2-3: Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”

John the Baptist has been arrested and put in jail and is awaiting execution at the time that he sent his disciples to ask this big question of Jesus.

JOHN THE BAPTIST

A lot has happened to John since we last saw him in Matthew 3. John was the forerunner, the herald who was announcing the coming of the King! He was such a powerful voice that people were coming out in droves to be baptized in the Jordan river. Even the Pharisees came out to be baptized, he was a phenomenon.

John was a true rough and tough man. He lived in the wilderness without the comforts of life. He wore coarse camel hair clothes, ate locusts and wild honey and preached a message of repentance, even to the Jewish power structure, he was unafraid. Most importantly he knew who Jesus was. In John 1:29 He proclaimed of Jesus, “behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

In the meantime, John had called Herod the tetrarch, the governor over this area of Judea, to repentance for his affair with his sister-in-law Herodias. Herod put John in prison but had not put him to death because he was afraid of John and he respected John’s persona and preaching to some degree.

John the Baptist was clearly not someone who was weak in the knees or afraid to speak. But yet here is John, sending his disciples as he is bound in prison with the question, “are you the expected one?” What happened!? John the Baptist is experiencing doubt. He’s human.

People like John the Baptist, the disciples, and even others with knowledge of the scripture were confused about the timeline of the fulfillment of prophecy. They knew the scripture foretold of a coming king who would rule perfectly. And they knew that Jesus was the One. John the Baptist made that clear on more than one occasion. What they didn’t understand was the concept of the first coming of the Lord to die, followed by a second coming at a future date TBD, to rule. They expected Jesus to go to Jerusalem in the very near future, expel the Romans and begin his earthly reign.

But here is John, in prison, awaiting execution. He’s hearing about the works of Jesus, but he’s also hearing of growing opposition to Jesus and the message of the kingdom. So naturally, he asks the question.

JESUS REPLIES TO JOHN

Matthew 11:4-6- Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

Jesus replies to John by his disciples pointing to the works that He is doing, but more importantly these works were a prophecy from Isaiah 35. Jesus reminds John that He is, in fact, the Messiah that was foretold in the scriptures! Jesus is fulfilling them completely and that will confirm to John what he needs to know to satisfy his moment of doubt.

Jesus was so gracious in his response. He just simply confirmed to Johns disciples, answering his question. There was no rebuke for his doubt but rather, a gracious answer, to calm John’s momentary fear.

THE CROWD

As John’s disciples depart to go relay the message back to him it becomes apparent that there is a crowd present who heard this exchange between John’s disciples and Jesus. Jesus has a message for them as well.

Matthew 11:7-11- As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings palaces! But what did you see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one whom it is written “Behold, I send My messenger ahead of you, who will prepare Your way before You. Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!”

Jesus defends John after they heard the question! But in doing so, he makes a big claim. Jesus reminds the crowd of what they went out to see when they heard about John and his teaching back in Matthew 3. Did he look to you to be a weak man who would be blown around by circumstances? Did he look like a “yes man” who could be found in the palace to make the king feel better about himself? Of course not! John was a prophet, just as they thought, but even more so Jesus tells them that John was the fulfillment of prophecy as the forerunner to the Messiah.

The Jewish crowd was looking for the Messiah; they were also looking for Elijah to precede the coming of the Messiah as a forerunner to pave the way for the King. Jesus quotes part of the prophecy in Matthew 11:10 pointing back to Malachi 3:1. Jesus then confirms that John the Baptist is in fact the herald they all expected to be Elijah.

Matthew 11:14- And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.

Jesus is now pointing back to Himself. He is once again confirming that He is the Messiah foretold. By proclaiming that John is in fact the fulfillment of Malachi 3:1 and represents Elijah, He is also claiming to be the One who comes after the forerunner. He is the Christ!

THE REBUKE

Jesus then goes on to condemn the crowd. In Matthew 11:21-23 Jesus rebukes three towns: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. This is the area Jesus had been ministering and has done the majority of His miracles. It was also His hometown! He compares them to quarrelling children who are missing the whole point and he tells them what will happen to them for their lack of repentance and unbelief. He tells them in Matthew 11:22 that gentile areas will find judgment day more tolerable than them and He tells Capernaum that they will descend to Hades and what happened to Sodom (total destruction) would be better than what they will experience in judgment.

THE DIFFERENCE

Why did Jesus respond to Johns doubt so gently and then condemn the crowd so harshly? What was the difference? The difference was unbelief. The people of the crowd were unrepentant because they didn’t believe. What Jesus described to them was the penalty for rejecting Him. This crowd, in this area He’d been ministering had rejected His message in unbelief and the wrath of God was on them, so Jesus doesn’t hold back in his condemnation.

John on the other hand wasn’t rejecting Jesus, he was experiencing doubt. But as you can see in this passage, John went to the source, the Lord Himself, to have his doubt removed! And Jesus gently answered his doubt with loving confirmation of who He is.

Do you ever experience doubt? I think most of us do from time to time. If you do, you’re in good company. But like John, we need to go to the source to answer our doubt. We should pray and go to God’s Word to answer those questions.

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